Method and apparatus for interactive audience participation at a live entertainment event

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method for providing interactive audience participation at live entertainment events. The method includes providing audience members with an interactive device that presents a promotional message and includes a user interface, broadcasting audio programming to the audience member through the interactive device, querying the audience members, wherein answers to the querying may be entered by the audience member via the user interface of the interactive device, transmitting the answers to a central processor, storing the answers as audience data, processing the audience data into results, storing the results of the processing of the audience data and broadcasting the results of the processing of the audience data.

RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA

This application is a continuation of applicant's co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/542,819, filed Oct. 4, 2006 which, in turn, is acontinuation of applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/266,783, filed Nov. 4, 2005 which, in turn, is a continuation ofapplicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/661,871,filed Sep. 12, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,975,878, which, in turn, is acontinuation of applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/854,267, filed May 11, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,650,903, which, inturn, is a continuation of applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/656,096, filed Sep. 6, 2000, now U. S. Pat. No. 6,434,398.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for interactive audienceparticipation at a live entertainment event. The invention also relatesto a system that is used in connection with such method.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Spectator events and, in particular, spectator sporting events havebecome a multibillion dollar a year business throughout the world.Millions of people attend their favorite sporting events, choosing amongbaseball, soccer, basketball, hockey, football, tennis, golf, autoracing, horse racing, boxing, and many others. Rather than merelywatching sporting events on television, fans are willing to pay for theprivilege of attending such events live in order to enjoy thespontaneity and excitement.

Audience reaction at live spectator events is generally gaugedinformally on crowd volume. At certain events, limited amounts ofinformation are shared with audience members using large screen displayssuch as those available from Sony Corporation under the trademarkJUMBOTRON™. However, the opportunities for audience participation anduseful or meaningful audience feedback are limited.

Marketing research has shown that audience members desire both anopportunity to participate in the spectator event and enjoyinteractivity with other audience members. Informed audience membersdesire an opportunity to share their opinions with others. Heretofore,there has been no practical means to solicit the aggregate positions andthe opinions of audience members at large venues (e.g., stadiums,arenas, race tracks, golf courses, theme parks, and other expansiveoutdoor/indoor venues).

Fans at live spectator events have come to expect background informationand detailed analysis from viewing televised sporting events at homeand/or readily obtaining such information over the Internet. Further,audience members are becoming more and more accustomed to interactivityfrom their use of computer games, such as fantasy sports league games,that allow them to organize teams, determine game strategies and testtheir skill at managing a sports team. Accordingly, in order to continueattracting live audiences to attend these large venues, promoters havean incentive to provide audience members with an enhanced experience.

One example of a venue that would benefit from enhanced audienceparticipation is major league baseball. The games last several hours,and audience members spend most of their time in and around a reservedseat. When going to the concession stand or restrooms, the fan missespart of the game. Further, opportunities for interaction and expressingone's opinion are typically limited to cheering or jeering.Occasionally, a single fan or a few fans are selected to participate ina contest, such as a trivia contest, but these opportunities areextremely limited. Nearly every fan has an opinion about how the gameshould be played, and would like an opportunity to express his or heropinion. Ideally, fans would like to be recognized for their skill andknowledge concerning individual teams and/or winning strategies. Fansalso desire to express opinions concerning facilities, sponsors,players, management and concessions. Being able to voice an opinion, andcomparing the opinion to that of other fans, would enhance the overallexperience. Also, this kind of information can be useful to managementby helping it determine the kind of services that fans desire.

Additionally, an often-heard complaint from fans is that they missedsome of the action because they could not see or did not know preciselywhat was happening. For example, sometimes the seat location of theattendee fails to offer an unobstructed view. On other occasions atechnical ruling may be made by a game official that is not fullyexplained to those in attendance but is fully analyzed by televisionand/or radio announcers.

It is also noted that spectators commuting to and/or from events do nothave ready access to desirable information such as sports relatedinformation and other information such as traffic and weather reports.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for enhancingthe experience of audience members at live spectator events by morefully involving the audience. In a preferred embodiment of theinvention, the method of enhancing audience participation comprisescommunicating information to fans at a sporting event using aninteractive device that allows fans to respond to displayed messages.Individual fan feedback is stored, processed (e.g., tabulated) anddisplayed back to the individual fan or the audience as a whole. Theinteractive device is preferably a wireless, hand held device, whichincludes an audio component to allow the user to listen to play-by-playand expert commentary during the live event. The audio component mayalso provide spectators with other desirable information such as trafficand weather reports. Since the device is easily transported, the fan cancarry it on trips to the concession stands or to the restrooms. Further,the method presents promotional messages of sponsors and advertisers toeach user of the interactive device. The promotional message may bepermanently affixed to the device and/or transmitted to each device viaopen band lines. In a more specific method, the location of individualfans is identified by means of a transceiver located within theinteractive device.

The method can be used to conduct contests wherein a fan is asked topredict the next event or events to take place (e.g. the outcome of thenext at bat in a baseball game or the next play or plays to be called ina football game on a real time basis, all star balloting, pitchingchanges, etc.). Using simple input devices, such as arrow keys and anenter key, a touch screen display or a numeric keypad, the fan selectsfrom a list of promptings and/or possible answers. A fan that correctlypredicts a predetermined number of outcomes may be awarded an electroniccoupon that can be redeemed for concessions and/or other prizes.Alternatively, the prize could be delivered to the fan based on thelocation of the fan's interactive device by means of communication withthe transceiver located therein.

One advantage of the invention is that promotional messages andadvertisements receive a higher degree of attention from fans, becausethe fans are more interested in the interactive content than inpassively viewing or listening to broadcast messages.

Another advantage of the invention is that it is possible to receiveinstantaneous and correlated feedback from a large number of fans, whichis valuable information for, by way of example, sponsors, teams andleagues.

A further advantage of the invention is that fans value the expertcommentary, freedom of movement and the interactivity afforded by themethod, increasing their enjoyment and the perceived value of attendinga live sporting event.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readilyapparent from the following detailed description of a preferredembodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more fully understood and further advantages willbecome apparent when reference is had to the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments of the invention and theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference numeral denote similarelements throughout the several views and in which:

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in theaccompanying drawings a form which is presently preferred; it beingunderstood that the invention is not intended to be limited to theprecise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of hand held device used in connection withthe interactive audience participation system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of audience members at a spectator eventutilizing the interactive audience participation system of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numeralshave been used throughout the various figures to designate likeelements, there is shown in FIG. 1 a hand held, interactive device 10adapted for use in connection with the interactive audienceparticipation system of the present invention.

The device is preferably provided to audience members at a livespectator event as shown in FIG. 2. The device is adapted to provideinformation to the user. In a preferred embodiment the device 10includes a housing 12 with an electronic display opening. The device 10preferably includes a multiband radio incorporated therein with an audioreceiving circuit and an audio output means (not shown). The audiooutput means is in electrical communication with the audio receivingcircuit in a manner known in the art. The radio is adapted to receiveAM, FM and/or VHF signals from a number of predetermined frequencies.

An earpiece 15 is included to allow the user to listen to the radioassociated with the device without annoying neighboring fans. It isnoted that other listening means could be employed such as earphones andthe like.

An electronic display (visual display) 20 is preferably mounted withinthe housing and is visible through the electronic display openingtherein. The electronic display is in electrical communication with alocal microprocessor mounted within the housing. A transceiver inelectrical communication with the local microprocessor allows for thetransmission and receipt of data from a central processor (not shown) ina manner known in the art. The electronic display is adapted to displaydata received from the local microprocessor. For example, the visualdisplay is adapted to display messages that ask the audience member toanswer a question or provide an opinion. It is contemplated that data inthe form of audio messages could be sent to the user in lieu of or inaddition to the visual display.

The device 10 preferably presents promotional messages from sponsorsand/or advertisers, essentially underwriting the cost of a userinterface device. Such messages can be in the form of indicia 30 located(e.g., physically imprinted) on the device. Additionally, the messagescan be visually displayed on the visual display 20 of the device or canbe aurally communicated through the same. The messages can be in theform of pre-programmed visual messages or recordings or can betransmitted live during the spectator event via open band lines. Thedevice is preferably provided to each audience member as part of theprice of admission or, alternatively, as an optional item purchased bythe audience member, and subsidized by the promotional messages.

In one embodiment, a large screen display 30, as depicted in FIG. 2,remotely located from the fan (e.g., a JUMBOTRON™ display) is used forquerying users of the interactive device. A user interface 50 on thedevice 10 allows an audience member to enter a response to queries.Examples of simple user interfaces are a keypad, selection buttons,touch screen, rotatable dial or voice recognition, but any other userinterface could be incorporated within the invention. In an alternateembodiment, the user interface device is adapted to interact with otherfans by allowing for the broadcasting of messages to all audiencemembers or, alternatively, from one individual audience member toanother. Many easy to use interfaces are known to one of ordinary skillin the art, and the invention is not limited to any particular userinterface.

The responses of the audience members are sent to a central processor(not shown) that is adapted to tabulate the responses. Then, theprocessed information is stored and displayed to the audience member,either on the device 10 or a large screen display 40 remotely locatedfrom the fan. FIGS. 1 and 2. The processed information could be acompilation of the number of similar responses or as a percentage oftotal responses or graphically in a bar chart, pie chart or some othergraphical, numerical or combined graphical and numerical representationof the data.

One representative embodiment of the present invention is a method ofenhancing the enjoyment of spectators at live entertainment venues.

In the first step of the method, spectators are provided with aninteractive device 10, 10′ and 10″. FIG. 2. The interactive device maybe any device which permits broadcast of audio or video or both audioand video and provides the spectator with a user interface for sendingreplies to queries. The interactive device is adapted to presentpromotional messages either by placing the same on the device or byvisually or aurally transmitting messages through the same.

Optionally, the device could be used to send messages to another fan,group of fans or all fans. This feature could be enabled in a mannersimilar to email by having a unique address programmed in each device.Optionally, the users could be queried to input a section and seatnumber. Inputting a seat number has the additional benefit of allowingdelivery of awards, incentives and prizes directly to the spectator'sseat. Another way to deliver prizes to spectators would be completelyelectronic. An award could be sent electronically to the unique addressprogrammed in the interactive device, which could then be redeemed ateither a central location or at one of the concession stands. This couldbe done without entering a seat number.

Another step involves broadcasting audible programming to spectators,using the interactive device. This is accomplished by incorporating anaudio receiving circuit within the device which is adapted to receive RFand/or VHF signals at predetermined frequencies.

Querying of spectators, wherein answers may be entered by spectatorsusing their interactive devices, is yet another step of the method.

Transmitting the answers from the spectators to a receiver or receiversis the next step in the method followed by receiving the answers, eitherat a central processing station or at distributed processing stations.

Storing the answers, at least temporarily, as spectator data, andprocessing the spectator data are additional steps in the method. Thisis followed by storing the results of the processing of the spectatordata, at least temporarily.

Displaying the results of the processing of the spectator data is a stepthat generally follows the processing of the spectator data. Thisprovides feedback to the spectators, showing them how their answerscompared to other spectators. The steps of querying, transmitting,receiving, storing and displaying may all be accomplished via technologyknown in the art. Additionally, the steps of querying and transmittingare preferably achieved using wireless communications known in the art.The wireless communications are preferably selected from the groupconsisting of radio transmissions, microwave transmissions, broadbandwireless data transmissions, and satellite transmissions.

The offering of prizes to a selected spectator or spectators who haveresponded to the querying, participated in the interactive games oranswered correctly quiz questions may be utilized to enhance theenjoyment of spectators.

Another optional embodiment of the method allows for wirelesstransmitting of the answers and/or responses to the querying.

Ultra-wide band transmission is a promising technology for thebroadcasting of messages and transmission of spectators' responses. Ithas the advantage of multiplexing over a single frequency.

It is contemplated that the step of displaying the results may beachieved by using a stadium large screen display. Alternatively, thestep of displaying the results may be achieved using a stadium monitorsystem or using a display incorporated in the interactive device or suchinformation may be broadcast as audibly or both audibly and visibly.

The present invention may be embodied in other forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential attributes thereof and accordinglyreference should be made to the claims rather than to the foregoingspecification as indicating the scope thereof.

1. A system for enabling interactive participation by audience membersattending a live entertainment event at an expansive outdoor/indoorvenue and employing a wireless interactive device having capability (i)to receive and transmit messages, (ii) accept input via a userinterface, and (iii) display messages on an electronic display, thesystem comprising: a wireless communication system adapted to transmitand receive messages with the interactive device; means for querying theaudience members to respond to at least one query with answers enteredthrough the user interface and transmitted by the interactive device;means for receiving the answers at a central processing station ordistributed processing stations; means for storing the received answersas audience data; and a central processor adapted to receive and processthe audience data into results.
 2. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising means for broadcasting the results to the audience members.3. The system of claim 1, further comprising means for disseminatingleast one promotional message of a sponsor to the audience membersthrough the electronic display.
 4. The system of claim 3, furthercomprising means for providing the results to the sponsor.
 5. The systemof claim 1, wherein the querying means comprises at least one largescreen display visible to audience members in the expansiveoutdoor/indoor venue.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the queryingmeans comprises a stadium monitor system visible to audience members inthe expansive outdoor/indoor venue.
 7. The system of claim 2, whereinthe broadcasting means comprises at least one large screen displayvisible to audience members in the expansive outdoor/indoor venue. 8.The system of claim 2, wherein the broadcasting means comprises astadium monitor system visible to audience members in the expansiveoutdoor/indoor venue.
 9. The system of claim 1, further comprising atleast one prize appointed to be awarded to at least one of the audiencemembers.
 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless communicationssystem transmits and receives using at least one transmission formselected from the group consisting of radio transmission, microwavetransmission, broadband wireless data transmission, ultra-wide bandtransmission, and satellite transmission.
 11. The system of claim 1,further comprising means for broadcasting messages from the interactivedevice of one of the participating audience members to the interactivedevice of another of the participating audience members.
 12. The systemof claim 1, wherein each of the interactive devices has a unique addressprogrammed therein.
 13. The system of claim 1, further comprising meansfor providing audio transmission of audible programming to theinteractive devices, the audible programming comprising at least one ofplay-by-play, expert commentary, traffic reports, and weather reports.14. The system of claim 1, wherein the expansive outdoor/indoor venue isselected from the group consisting of stadiums, arenas, race tracks,golf courses, and theme parks.
 15. A method for enabling interactiveaudience participation at a live entertainment event at an expansiveoutdoor/indoor venue attended by a plurality of participating audiencemembers employing a hand-held, wireless interactive device that includesa user interface, the method comprising the steps of: querying theparticipating audience members; receiving answers to the queryingentered by the participating audience members via the user interface ofthe interactive device; transmitting the answers to a central processor;processing the answers into results; and broadcasting the results to theplurality of participating audience members attending the liveentertainment event.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the wirelessinteractive device employs a form of wireless communications selectedfrom the group consisting of radio transmissions, microwavetransmissions, broadband wireless data transmissions, and satellitetransmissions.
 17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the stepof presenting a promotional message to each participating audiencemember.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the promotional message isimprinted on the device.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein thepromotional message is transmitted wirelessly to the interactive deviceand is presented to the participating audience member either visually oraurally.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the promotional message ispre-programmed in the interactive device.
 21. The method of claim 15,further comprising the step of awarding prizes to at least one selectedaudience member who has answered the querying.
 22. The method of claim21, wherein the awarding of prizes is accomplished by electronicdelivery.
 23. The method of claim 21, wherein the awarding of prizes isaccomplished by direct delivery to the at least one selected audiencemember.
 24. The method of claim 15, wherein the interactive device isadapted to allow the broadcasting of messages from one of theparticipating audience members to another of the participating audiencemembers.
 25. The method of claim 15, wherein each interactive device hasa unique address programmed therein.
 26. The method of claim 15, whereinthe answers are received at a central processing station and thereaftertransmitted to the central processor.
 27. The method of claim 15,wherein the answers are received at distributed processing stations andthereafter transmitted to the central processor.
 28. The method of claim15, wherein the live entertainment event is a sporting event.
 29. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the live entertainment event is conducted ata live entertainment venue.
 30. The method of claim 15, wherein theexpansive outdoor/indoor venue is selected from the group consisting ofstadiums, arenas, race tracks, golf courses, and theme parks.
 31. Themethod of claim 15 wherein the step of querying comprises use of a largescreen display.
 32. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of queryingcomprises use of a stadium monitor system.
 33. The method of -claim 15,wherein the step of querying comprises use of the interactive device.34. The method of claim 15 wherein the step of broadcasting comprisesuse of a large screen display.
 35. The method of claim 15 wherein thestep of broadcasting comprises use of a stadium monitor system.
 36. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the step of broadcasting comprises use ofthe interactive device.
 37. A method for interactive audienceparticipation at a live entertainment event at an expansiveoutdoor/indoor venue attended by audience members, a plurality of whomhave a wireless interactive device including a user interface, themethod comprising the steps of: presenting at least one promotionalmessage from a sponsor; querying the audience members; receiving answersto the querying entered via the user interface of the interactivedevice; transmitting the answers to a processor; processing the answersinto results; and providing the results to the sponsor.
 38. The methodof claim 37, further comprising the step of broadcasting the results tothe audience members attending the live entertainment event.
 39. Themethod of claim 37, further comprising the step of awarding prizes to atleast one selected audience member who has answered the querying. 40.The method of claim 37, further comprising the step of presenting apromotional message.
 41. The method of claim 37 wherein the step ofquerying comprises use of a large screen display.
 42. The method ofclaim 37, wherein the step of querying comprises use of the interactivedevice.
 43. The method of claim 37, wherein the step of queryingcomprises use of a stadium monitor system.
 44. The method of claim 38,wherein the step of broadcasting the results comprises use of the largescreen display.
 45. The method of claim 38, wherein the step ofbroadcasting the results comprises use of a stadium monitor system. 46.The method of claim 38, wherein the step of broadcasting the resultscomprises use of the interactive device.
 47. The method of claim 37,wherein the live entertainment event is a sporting event.
 48. The methodof claim 37, wherein the live entertainment event is conducted at a liveentertainment venue.
 49. The method of claim 48, wherein the expansiveoutdoor/indoor venue is selected from the group consisting of stadiums,arenas, race tracks, golf courses, and theme parks.
 50. The method ofclaim 48, wherein the expansive outdoor/indoor venue is a theme park.